Leaf-holder



ira srerre PATENTOFFICE JOSEPH Nook, or wAsHINGron, Dis'rnior 1orContainern.

LEAF-HOLDER.

specification of Letters Patent No. 3,218, dated August 11, ieee.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JosErI-r Noon, of the city of llashington, in theDistrict of Columbia, have made certain improvements in leaf-holders ortemporary binders intended for securing together letters, music,pamphlets, and otherarticles of a like nature in a manner moreconvenient than by any of the instruments heretofore invented for thatpurpose; and I do hereby declare that the following isa full and exactdescription thereof.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure l, represents two square rods,between which the papers are to be confined. @ne of these rods, A, maybe of wood, the other B, is of metal, and this latter I make tubular. C,C, are a right and a left handed screw cut on the same shaft, which iscontained within the tube B, and is capable of being made to revolvewithin the tube, by turning` the milled nut D, attached to the screwshaft C, C. The two plates E, E, connect the two rods, A, andB,Utogether by means of joint pins; the pins a, a, are attached tosquare screw nuts fitted into the tube B, and through which the screwsC, C, work; 1t

will be evident, therefore, that by turning the nut D, thetwo rods, A,and B, may be" made to approach toward, or to recede from, each other atpleasure. In this ligure, the portfolio, or covers, to which the rods`A,

and B, are to be attached are not shown.`

Fig. 2, is a transverse section through the rods A, B, and through apart of the covers to which they are attached. F, F, are parts of thecovers, and G, the loose leather of the back. The rods, A, and B, areattached to the covers by means of screws Z), which are t-apped into therods. To enable these screws to hold the whole togetherfrmly, I insertthin strips of iron, or of other metal, c, c, Fig. 3, between theleather of the loose back, as shown at c, c, Fig. 2; d, (Z, are smallpoints projecting from one of the rods, and which may entercorresponding holes in the other rod. Vhere a considerable number ofpapers are to be held, they are rendered much more secure by the use ofsuch points, although their use is not important when a few sheets onlyare to be held.

In order to secure the papers so that they cannot be removed by the mereturning of the nut D, I have combined a lock H, with the apparatus, bymeans of which the whole may be secured from removal excepting by theaid of a key. This lock is seen most distinctly in F ig. 4, which is aview of a part of the rods, A, and B, on the side opposite to that shownin` Fig. 1. C, is the projecting end of the screw shaftC, C, and whichis to receive the milled nut D, Fig. 6; e, e, e, are holes drilled inthe inner face of this nut, and within whichthe lock bolt is to bereceived; f, is a key hole, and g, the bolt upon which the key is toact; la., is a spring catch which falls into a notch in the bolt g, whenit is forced back by Vmeans ofthe key; to the spring catch is attached apin which passes throughthe lock plate H, and serves to disengage thecatch from the bolt; and when this is done, the latter is forced forwardby the spiral springy', and is made to enter one of the holese, e, inthe nut D, and

thereby to lockthe rods together. When the ported into this country, butin this the rods were cylindrical, and did not hold the leaves yrmly,being themselves subject to frequent derangement; the points d, d, couldnot be used; the lock was not, and could not be, combined with them; thescrews b, were merely passed through the leather cover,

` without the aid of the strips c, c, and the parts soon separated. Inconsequence of its defectiveness, the above-named article never wentinto general use; but as it will appear, from what I have above stated,that I am not the first .inventor of such an instrument, I, of course,limitmy claims to the improvements madeby me, which are as follows.

I claim- 1. In combination, the use of the square rods A, and B,carrying the points al, ai, with the leather cover, by the interventionof the strips of metal, c, o, as herein described; in this claim I willobserve that the employment of the square rods, in combination with theother parts, is not a mere change of form, but is accompanied With thesubstantial advantages above set forth.

2. I claim, also, the manner of constructing and of combining the lockH, With the within described apparatus; that is to say, I claim thearranging the spring catch, the bolt, and the other parts of the lock,in such manner as that said bolt shall shoot int-0 the holes e, e, inthe milled nut D, and shall 10 otherwise be acted upon, and operate, inthe manner described.

JOSEPH NOCK. lVtnesses:

Trios. P. JONES, B. K. MoRsELL.

